Trump's push for a ceasefire before the November 3 midterm elections has included a declaration that he has an energy truce agreement from both sides. He has blamed the European war for pushing up the cost of diesel.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is open to a truce. Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, is showing no sign of accepting an outcome that means halting attacks on Ukrainian civilians. More than 150 people were killed and 700 injured by Russian drones, glide bombs and missiles over the past week, and recent decisions in Moscow have produced deadlier strikes rather than restraint.
An analysis column by David Crowe published in The Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times and WAtoday argues that Trump is 'announcing a deal in the hope it happens' and that for a ceasefire to matter, it needs to stick. It says Ukraine is highly unlikely to submit to a ceasefire on punitive terms, and that the US president is in no position to force it to accept such an arrangement.
The column characterises the episode as a 'tired trick' that has already failed its first test, and argues it is more likely to confirm Trump as 'the president of pretence' than to bring the war closer to an end.